Qualcomm files suit against Apple alleging breach of contract

The legal battle between Qualcomm and Apple doesn't seem to get over anytime soon. As reported by Reuters, the former has now filed a lawsuit against Apple, alleging that the Cupertino-giant took advantage of its "unprecedented access" to Qualcomm's code to aid Intel.

The lawsuit, filed in a San Diego court, claims that Apple used its leverage in obtaining certain confidential information about Qualcomm's modem chip that it intended on passing along to Intel. Qualcomm further said, as per the contract between two companies, the iPhone maker was duty-bound to ensure that Apple's engineers didn't receive any information about the Qualcomm's modem chips.

In other words, Apple employees who worked with Qualcomm components were not supposed to share information about them with employees working with the Intel chip.

The suit claims that in July this year, Apple requested information from Qualcomm on how the company's modem chips worked on an unidentified wireless carrier. According to the suit, the reply sent by Qualcomm in respond to the mail was shared with an Intel engineer.

From the looks of it, the latest suit will do Qualcomm more harm than good. Despite making superior modem chipsets, the company remains the unsung hero as people hardly care about the chipset inside their iPhones.

Moreover, Apple has already decided that its upcoming devices won't feature Qualcomm's chips, which will cause Qualcomm to lose 20 percent of its modem chip business.

This is why Qualcomm is currently in hot water as its profits dropped 90 percent year-over-year. These statistics were revealed yesterday when the company announced its earnings.